1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to protective garments and refers more specifically to a garment for protecting the torso of a person from ballistic missiles or the like. 2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, metal armor, both solid and jointed so as to be flexible, has been used for personal protection against missles such as knives, spears, arrows, and the like. Such personal armor was substantially discarded with the advent of firearms, since the prior structures, when sufficiently heavy to protect against a bullet or the like, was too heavy and/or unwieldy to wear.
Recently, with the development of ballistic cloth such as ballistic nylon and Kevelar, personal garments for protection against ballistic missiles has again gained favor with law enforcement officials, soldiers, dignitaries subject to assassination, and the like. Such protective garments of the past, however, have generally suffered from inability to protect the wearer from certain ballistic missiles and/or have been particularly heavy and unwieldy.
It is, therefore, the intention of the present invention to provide a garment for personal protection against ballistic missiles which is economical, simple to construct, light in weight, sufficiently flexible to provide desired movement, and particularly efficient in stopping ballistic missiles.